Hotel Branding Strategy

Hotel Branding Strategy

To modern travelers, a hotel is far more than simply a place to
sleep for a night while on the road. For your brand, your hotel needs a
strategy that connects customer’s needs with your hotel’s branding
promise. Today’s hotel guests desire more than simply a hot shower, a
movie, and a comfortable bed — they want a strong brand experience that
gives them at least a small slice of what makes your particular brand
unique. The unique travel experience is where your hotel’s branding
strategy can shine and highlight what you offer that is different.
That’s what makes your hotel different – it’s your hotel branding
strategy.

The competition for business causes many hotels to engage in
unproductive price wars in an effort to seem as appealing as possible to
potential clientele. This does have it’s place during some parts of the
booking season, however, this approach can be self-defeating for
everyone involved and shouldn’t be part of your hotel branding strategy.
In the first place, you don’t necessarily want to be known primarily as
the cheapest place in town. Also, keep in mind that there is always
someone out there willing to undercut you, which can drive your prices
down even farther.

Hotel Pricing Strategy drives your hotel’s branding strategy
Instead of participating in a race to the bottom with your competition,
make a point of highlighting the unique aspects of your establishment
and use them as selling points. Identify your target market and work to
brand your business to attract that particular demographic rather than
making the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone. Instead of
trying to compete with your local competition, carve out a niche for
your establishment’s hotel branding strategy that makes it stand out
from other local options and speaks to a specific target audience.

Develop Your Hotel’s Story and make sure it’s part of your brand strategy
If there is an interesting story behind your hotel or establishment,
using it to create a specific brand identity will work in your favor. By
appealing to a certain group of travelers, you’ll increase customer
satisfaction because you’ll be able to customize their particular travel
experience. Your advertising efforts will be far more effective if you
target a specific client base rather than trying to cast an overly wide
net by attempting to appeal to as many people as possible.

It comes down to niche marketing, which will provide you with a far
better return on investment than more traditional, generic marketing
strategies.

Scott Fish

Scott Fish is the CMO at Off Road, responsible for the business development team and managing the marketing delivery and client management team. During the past two decades, he has worked with growing companies around the world in evolving industries such as tourism, franchises, hotels, sports associations and cultural organizations. Scott is a founding board member of SEMpdx, the largest regionally focused digital marketing organization in the US. He creates strategies to drive more business and connect better with their customers.